During World War I, Australia lost so many young men that some country towns had difficulty recovering, economically and emotionally. According to the Australian War Memorial, over 324,000 Australians served overseas. Nearly 60,000 died, 152,000 were wounded and 4,000 were taken prisoner.

To honour all those who served in the First World War, grieving communities across Australia planted trees in Avenues of Honour.

Now age is starting to take its toll on the trees of the Avenues. Locally, I know of two that struggle to survive.

About 20 kilometres from Daylesford is the tiny hamlet of Drummond. It consists of a school, a war memorial and a smattering of farms. It’s also home to an elm-lined Avenue of Honour.

According to a report in Hepburn Shire’s The Advocate, the trees are infested with elm leaf beetle. Concerned locals have appealed to VicRoads and to Hepburn Shire Council to help save the trees. Both refuse to take responsibility.

In Bacchus Marsh, the Dutch elms of the magnificent Avenue of Honour are threatened by roadworks and disease. While the local RSL President states that the Avenue will never be lost, plant scientist Adam Dimech in his blog, The Grapevine, cites serious concerns raised by the National Trust about the integrity of the Avenue.

In the township of Glenlyon, a beautiful avenue of elms has led a troubled life of late, although its problems are now being remedied. As far as I know, it’s not an Avenue of Honour but the local council is helping to restore it. Go figure.

In Woodend, the Avenue of Honour is protected by Heritage Victoria. An assortment of oak trees provide a cool green welcome to the town at this time of year, and display spectacular colour in Autumn. Through good management, it seems to have few of the problems that currently afflict Avenues in other places.

With nearly 4,000 trees and stretching 22km, the most famous Avenue of Honour was planted in Ballarat. Although classified on the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register of Significant Trees, the Avenue has not been spared distress.

In 1994 the Ballarat Bypass reduced traffic along the Avenue by about 80 percent but at least 16 trees were removed by VicRoads during the construction. In the same year, accidental drift of herbicide spray covered a 500 square kilometre area of central Victoria, damaging many of the Avenue’s elms.

In 2007, the Avenues of Honour Project was established at the University of Adelaide. The initiative of TREENET, a non-profit organisation, its aim is to document and preserve existing Avenues of Honour and to establish new plantings of avenues to commemorate all Australians lost in armed conflict.

With the goal of planting 102,000 trees by the centenary of ANZAC in 2015, it’s an ambitious project. The current rate of decline does not bode well for the project.

Like a few others who think the living memorials deserve to survive, I hope they can be saved from their biggest threat: amnesia caused by apathy.